Bold, iPhone, or Android (HTC / Samsung)?

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coyo

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I currently have a BB Torch (the original 9800) and am starting to have a few issues, not the least of which is how slow the phone is compared to the current crop of phones.

I'm a month away from an upgrade so I'm starting to look at options.

I'm locked with Rogers as I'm still a year away from the end of my contract (and quite frankly, I've always been good with the service I've gotten).

I'm looking at all three platforms;

Blackberry; I'm looking at the Bold 9900, I like the physical keyboard, the trackpad, the replacable battery, the ability to connect to any computer with a simple micro-USB, but the platform seems to have hit a wall and be behind everything else.

iPhone; the iPhone 4S, I've always been against iPhone due to its propriety, the lack of removable batteries, and the sheeple effect... but damn, as they say, it works!

Android; I've been looking at the functionality of these phones but am concerned about the developer/manufacturer/provider issues. The phones themselves appear to be a very good and viable option and IF Android turns into an option, then I'm looking at the HTC One X or the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE.

Two last things; battery is ALWAYS an issue with me, as is small form factor.

I'm looking for opinions on these phones / platforms (good and bad) but I don't care to get into the 90+ thread already running that appears more political than anything else. What can you tell me, good or bad, about these phones as ACTUAL OWNERS / USERS?
 
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Okay so a blackberry does have a physical keyboard. But once you start using touch screen you get used to it really quickly. BB is so far behind in the times don't even think about buying one.

The iPhone is great. Its quick. It's easy to use. It's compact and it can do everything.

But my vote is to android. Not only will you have 4G which you can't get on the iphone 4S, but you can drag and drop music and movies. There is no syncing, you just plug your phone in and drag the music files into your music folder. You can get basically all the same apps as the iphone too.

Now you just need to decide on which android. I would just look into which has the longest battery life and make sure its 4G ready with a good processor and camera.
 
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I should add that I have the HTC EVO 3D. It's a fantastic phone, although I do think the battery could last a little longer.
 
Samsung Galaxy SII LTE or even better, wait for the Galaxy S III.

Battery life on the SII varies depending on use. If you have a lot of apps and widgets installed, it will be considerably lower. I have the SII i9100 (slightly different phone but more or less the same) and I get a good 8 hours or so before needing to plug in.

Note that the Galaxy S II LTE has Gorilla Glass, NFC (for mobile payments and transfer of files between other NFC equipped phones) and a microSD slot (a lot of phones don't have this feature).

Also, don't be too concerned with the lack of Android 4.0 on the S II LTE, as it should be released officially very soon and there are plenty of aftermarket options for ROM customizations if you can't wait for an official release and are into that sort of thing :cool:

I should also add that while I don't personally own the S II LTE, my brother does and he loves it.
 
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rawr said:
Samsung Galaxy SII LTE or even better, wait for the Galaxy S III.

Battery life on the SII varies depending on use. If you have a lot of apps and widgets installed, it will be considerably lower. I have the SII i9100 (slightly different phone but more or less the same) and I get a good 8 hours or so before needing to plug in.
Click to expand...

Battery life is a big concern of mine which has been one of the good points of my Torch; I rarely have to plug it in until I go to bed. It doesn't seem that ANY Android phone can do that, and the iPhone is questionable.
 
I should add that I use the phone for;

calls, both personal and work
texts, I use this a fair bit, although nothing compared to how much a teenage girl texts
email, multiple accounts but not huge traffic
browsing
Facebook, although I'm losing interest
Tapatalk, for this and a few other forums
camera, MUST have a quality camera with a flash although it appears that they all do now
music, very occasional use
 
Get almost any modern Android and all of the above will be done with ease. The only thing is battery life, I have the SII LTE and it does everything better than an iPhone. But the battery life isn't the best.

If you hate waiting for companies like Samsung to fine tune ICS for release you could just buy the phone straight from Google, and insure you get updated first every time.
 
Smartphones aren't exactly known for stellar battery life... yet. I carry a USB cable and emergency battery charger like this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MICRO-USB-BA...es_Chargers&hash=item231cde88ed#ht_3135wt_696 just in case I need some extra juice while out. I can get at least a 50% battery boost from a fresh set of AA batteries.

And on the topic of keyboards, Swype is amazing. It's faster than using a physical QWERTY keyboard on a BlackBerry.
 
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I'd vote for the iPhone, so let me address your concerns with it:

1. Sure it's proprietary, but not any more than the rest. It works well with other Aple devices, but no worse with non Apple devices than the competition.

2. The 4S (and hte 4) have easily removable batteries. Yes, you need a rather unique screw driver to access it, but it only takes 30 seconds to remove the 2 screws holding the back plate. Besides, the need to change or pull that battery doesn't exist, not in the way it does with your BB.

3. Baaaaahhh.
 
Jailbroken iPhone4S.

Great battery life and all the flexibility you could ever want out of a smartphone.
 
mmmnaked said:
Jailbroken iPhone4S.

Great battery life and all the flexibility you could ever want out of a smartphone.
Click to expand...

Sure they are flexible, if the computers you are plugging into have itunes and you dont care about Adobe Flash.
iPhones are great, but don't say they are flexible.
 
Quote from a friend of mine that works at RIM: "Samsung makes the best phones on the market right now."
 
CruisnGrrl said:
I will never buy HTC again after having a bunch fail in a row (the fail streak would have run longer but the last one went 35 days before failing).
Click to expand...

I also had a bad run of HTC phones many years ago... replaced 9 times within a year and even then it still didn't work properly. NO issues with my Samsungs.
 
Different phones for different people and different usage patters.. It`s hard to say one is `better ‘ then the other because it depends what you want to do with it, but for me nothing beats a blackberry.. And I’m sure I’m about to get flamed by all the apple and android shepple but I honestly could not care less. I’ve used them all, and I always go back to my blackberry...It may not have as many apps by the numbers as the other two, but it has all the ones that count, and everything I’ve ever wanted to use.. It may not have as fancy as UI as the other two, but the UI it has is very intuitive and easy to use.. I can go from app to app or use menu options from other apps from within the app I`m in without having to always go back to the home screen.. it gets stellar battery life and it easily handles the several hundred emails I get on it and send from it each and every day.. I`ve liked all my past blackberry`s but my 9900 is the best yet.
 
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TdotMurderer said:
Sure they are flexible, if the computers you are plugging into have itunes and you dont care about Adobe Flash.
iPhones are great, but don't say they are flexible.
Click to expand...

I don't remember the last time I plugged my iphone into a computer. It backs up to the cloud, and I sync all my stuff wirelessly (and without itunes). That's not a knock on iTunes though, I use the software and love it.

Flash is legitimately the only actual drawback to iOS, but I can't remember the last time I browsed the web on my phone and ran into a flash site. Its basically dead.
 
If you're used to a Blackberry environment then you'll enjoy the new offerings with the Bold 9900.

If you're unsure as to what you want and want to try something new, get an iPhone. If you like it, Great! if you decide it's not for you, iPhone's have great resale value and you can sell it and get yourself a BB or a droid device.

I personally use a 9900 and having used BB's for work for the last decade, it's the best blackberry so far. It doesn't have all the flashy stuff the other devices might in terms of 900,00,000 Apps, it has what it needs, but for what I need it to do, it does it better (for me) than the rest. Tools not toys.

Good luck.
 
Coyo...

I'd wait it out a bit more.

The smart phone market will advance yet again before this year is over.

- A new iphone will be released, and BB10 will be released as well, and no doubt countless Android models.

Here's my game plan.......

RIM is announcing a billion dollar write down of their existing stock. Translation..... They're going to be dumping their phones, like they did with the Playbook.

So get the Bold 9900 which is arguably the best BB out there currently, has the best keyboard and long battery life. Likely Carriers will be dumping these for $0 cost, or minimal cost for "no contract".

Wait for til fall/xmas for the new phones to arrive, and reassess which one to go for.

When BB10 arrives, I have absolutely no doubt RIM will have a strong promotion to get current BB owners to migrate to the new Phones since BB7 will be obsolete and not compatible with BB10, and RIM will do everything in its power to keep existing customers.

The smartphone landscape will shift dramatically by the end of this year. And the consumer is the winner.
 
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